While Simon Chadwick has been beavering away drawing animal cartoons in the Longdown Activity Farm marquee at the New Forest Show there was something else going on in the Women’s Institute tent. One of the challenges for the various WIs this year was to create a storybook sack showing off their various needlecraft skills (if anyone from a WI is reading this please forgive the incorrect parlance). Marchwood WI asked Simon if they could use his New Forest Friends & The Litterbugs book as the focus for their piece, and we think the end result was jaw-droppingly brilliant. They’ve interpreted it perfectly, from the detail of a little knitted Emery the Woodmouse trapped in a discarded bottle to the amazing backdrop, made from felt, that looks just like Simon’s illustrated page. But it was the depiction of Beaulieu the Hedgehog that really did it for us – just as we’d imagined a soft toy of him would be like. Congratulations to Debra Rich, Judy Saxby, Patricia Berry, Lynda Butterfield and Sandra Gibson for an astounding piece of work.

Check out New Forest Friends & The Litterbugs for yourself right here.